Battle looms over US science funding

AS REPUBLICANS take control of the US House of Representatives, science could take a hit – despite a new Congressional measure to boost funding.

“There is going to be a big fight,” says Michael Lubell of the American Physical Society in Washington DC. “The question is who blinks first.”

In one of its last votes of 2010, Congress passed the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, which calls for a 13 per cent boost in funding for the National Science Foundation by 2013 and similar growth for other science agencies.

Yet the boost is not assured. Republicans – whose consent is needed to …

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